Here’s an interesting story about plans to probe the edge of our solar system by Agence France-Presse.

Excerpt:

WASHINGTON — NASA on Sunday launched a probe into orbit high above earth to study the distant edge of the solar system where hot solar winds crash into the cold outer space.

The Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) was launched at 1745 GMT, according to images broadcast live by the US space agency.

The small probe was deployed on a Pegasus rocket which dropped from the bay doors of a Lockheed L-1011 jet flying at 12,000 meters (40,000 feet) over the southern Pacific Ocean near the Marshall Islands.

“The count went really smooth… and everything appears to be going well,” NASA assistant launch manager Omar Baez said shortly after the launch.

HERE’S a YouTube clip from the PBS show “NOVAscienceNOW” that sheds some light on the mysteries of dark matter.

By Allison Lopez
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines–They may not see a night sky filled with stars from their homes in the city, but an amazing simulation of one inside the Planetarium in Manila certainly made kids scream and clap their hands in wonder and perhaps, in appreciation.

“Ang galing (It’s great)!” said a girl from the Industrial Valley school in Marikina City as she and her classmates stared at the bright dots moving slowly on the ceiling.

“It’s an exact copy of the real night sky,” said Bel Pabunan, officer in charge of the Planetarium division. “Here in Metro Manila, the kids don’t see a night sky like that because of pollution and bright lights. But with the Goto Projector, we can simulate the night sky and project the planets and other deep space objects like satellites.”

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By Associated Press

TOKYO, Japan–Japan plans to follow up its first lunar satellite orbit this month by sending an unmanned probe to land on the moon by 2015, news reports said Saturday.

The Space Activities Commission of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology decided Friday to aim to land a SELENE-2 probe on the moon’s surface by 2015, Japanese major daily Asahi reported Saturday. Another daily Mainichi carried a similar report.

The landing would be a follow-up to the launch on Sept. 14 of the Selenological and Engineering Explorer — or SELENE — probe for what officials call the largest mission to the moon since the US Apollo project.

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By Agence France-Presse

SAN FRANCISCO, California–The most far-reaching search for extra-terrestrial life ever undertaken began Thursday as an array of radio telescopes that will trawl deepest space were activated in northern California.

A total of 42 radio dishes started collecting scientific data from the furthest reaches of the universe, part of the Allen Telescope Array (ATA) in Hat Creek, around 270 miles (432 kilometers) north of San Francisco.

The dishes will be part of an eventual army of telescopes numbering around 350 that are being deployed to help advance radio astronomy, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute and the University of California, Berkeley said in a statement.

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